Long Distance
by Miss DJ Classy B
Summary: One-shot. The news on hearing her baby brother nearly died has Lauren an emotional mess. She wants to go home and see him but their long distance relationship is preventing her from doing so.


"_With you is where I'd rather be but we're stuck where we are. And it's so hard. You're so far. This long distance is killing me…" – Long Distance by Brandy_

_Um…that's part of the chorus to a 2008 song that I just found. While listening to it, I got this awesome idea. It's obvious that Jayden and Lauren haven't communicated since they were separated. What if they did? Enjoy :)_

_Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.  
_

Lauren fell roughly onto the dirt ground. Since she turned sixteen, her many mentors have been doing this. They told her a numerous amount of times "no pain, no gain". Now she's in her early twenties and nothing has changed. She understood why. The nighlok are back and have targeted her baby brother. She's even overheard her mentors talking about how many times Jayden has already been hurt in the hands of the nighlok. Jayden received the same training as her and is just as skilled. He can take care of himself but there was a story that really stood out to her. Yesterday, Master Xandred came back from the Netherworld. His stay wasn't very long, he was weak and he still managed to almost kill Jayden.

"Get up!" Lauren's mentor shouted at her. Lauren didn't move. He walked over to see if she was okay. He had to keep on pushing her but he couldn't murder her especially since Jayden almost died. "Shiba, get up right now! If Xandred was here, he would slice you into pieces." Lauren sobbed in response. The mentor sighed. He hated it when she cried. "Alright, go wash up and eat. That's enough training for today."

Lauren rushed into her room and locked the door. After taking a long shower, she changed into pajamas. The fire samurai curled herself into a ball on her bed and cried. She couldn't stop the water from running down her cheeks. Why isn't she in Panorama City protecting Jayden? Is it because she isn't good enough yet? Her mentors made her feel like such a failure.

Lauren dragged her aching body off her bed and grabbed her laptop. No matter how depressed she felt, speaking to Jayden always found a way to lift her spirits. She and Jayden never spoke about much. Sometimes they just wished each other hopes for a good day or talked about what they had for dinner. Lauren smiled slightly to see Jayden already sent her a chat message in her email.

"_Hey sis."_

Lauren wiped her tears in her sleeve. _"How are you feeling?" _She typed.

"_I'm okay for the moment. Pain killers can work miracles. The teammates are checking on me and Ji has been running in and out of here like a mad man. How are you?"_

"_What about me?" _Lauren hears news coming from the Shiba house from time to time. Jayden doesn't know anything going on in her life unless she said something to him. Every once in a while, she told him about her burns from symbol power training and maybe how harsh the mentors are. She never went into detail.

"_Don't try that with me Lauren. How are you? Did you have a good day?"_

"_No…"_

"_Why?"_

"_Isn't someone supposed to be checking on you right now? I heard some pain killers are addictive."_

"_Lauren!"_

Lauren groaned. There is something her and Jayden have in common. They worry about each other too much. He has been lying to the other samurai to keep her safe. The least she could do was to not lie to him.

"_I'm sad." _Lauren replied.

"_Okay. Why?"_

"…_I miss you. I really, really, miss you. Why do we have to be so far away?"_

"_Oh, it's one of those days. Everything is going to be okay."_

"_But you almost died!"_ Lauren felt her tears strolling down her face again. She didn't like it when Jayden pretended he wasn't in pain. She couldn't see him but she knows what Master Xandred is capable of doing. He had to be hurting.

"_Almost. I'm still alive. Focus on the present. Xandred isn't coming back anytime soon. You should've seen him. He's completely dried out. When he does come back…you will be here. I'm sure you will. You'll make mom and dad very proud."_

"_I hope so. I don't want anything more happening to you."_

"_You have to stop worrying about me Lauren. I'm more concerned about you. How are the mentors treating you?"_

"Lauren, are you going to having dinner?" One of Lauren's guardians called from the other side of her bedroom door. "I heard you never came to the kitchen." He tried to open the door. He noticed it was locked. "Lauren, are you in there?"

"Go away!" Lauren screamed and threw a pillow at the wooden door. She heard footsteps from her guardian walking away from her room. Her guardians knew better than to bother her after a heated battle with her mentors. She got awfully mean.

The samurai rubbed her new scar on her arm gently and went back to typing. _"I'm a little bruised but that's normal after playing with fire, right?"_

"_I guess. It's getting late. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"_

"_Fine…"_

"_And Lauren?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_I miss you too. This long distance sibling relationship is killing me. Every day I see a picture frame of the Christmas before you left, I wish you were here. We were so happy. What happened? It's so hard not seeing you like back then. I love you sis."_

"_I love you too bro. I'm coming home soon."_

Lauren closed her laptop and buried herself in her blankets. She stopped crying. She had no more tears to shed.

_-Long Distance-_

Jayden attempted to get out of bed but his body protested and he slumped back into his pillow. He bit his lip. He was in so much unbearable pain.

"Jayden, are you alright?" Mentor Ji came in and placed a cup of tea on Jayden's nightstand. "You need to rest." Ji helped Jayden sit up in his bed. He picked up the tea and tried to hand it to Jayden but he refused to take it.

"I don't want any tea right now." Jayden told him in a hoarse voice. Ji looked at Jayden. Jayden had tears forming in his eyes. "I want to be alone." Ji hesitated, Jayden isn't usually so emotional. He hardly ever showed his sensitive side. There had to be something wrong. Ji left Jayden's bedroom with the tea. Jayden would tell him what's wrong sooner or later.

The second fire samurai picked up a picture frame. It was his favorite picture. Everyone he loved had bright smiles on their faces in Santa hats. The Shiba siblings were in their parents' arms. Lauren was only seven years old and he was three. The bottom of the frame read: Merry Christmas from Josh, Vanessa, Lauren, and Jayden Shiba. Even though he didn't remember that Christmas because of his age, he could tell it was a good one. It's the most recent picture he has of his older sister. He wonders what Lauren looks like now. Maybe she has more of their father's genes or maybe she has more of their mother's genes. Maybe she's a mix of both. He doesn't know. The two are fortunate to even have internet communication. Their mentors didn't want them talking to each other too much for safety reasons. Jayden and Lauren ignored their reasons and continued to type whenever they got the chance.

The Shiba siblings may be a long distance away from each other but they won't give up…Lauren is coming home.

_So what do you think? :D_


End file.
